


Still a March to Come

by JennaCupcakes



Series: We Can All Still Burn Our Fingers [1]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: 1848, Gen, another revolution another country, it's a little more successful and a little more frustrating, really pointless AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-27
Updated: 2013-04-27
Packaged: 2017-12-09 18:20:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/776533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JennaCupcakes/pseuds/JennaCupcakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For over thirty years, revolution has been looming over what is yet to be Germany. All over Europe, the people begin to stir. A group of friends prepares for a battle and a disappointment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Still a March to Come

**Author's Note:**

> I have created yet another pointless AU, this one set in the general period of the 1848er revolution in Germany. All because I wanted to make my favourite revolutionaries suffer some more. Why do they all have French names, you ask? Was that AU really necessary? Yes, I respond. Yes it was.  
> Explanations to the historical events referenced will be found at the end. Also, you should keep in mind that this was done purely for fun and because I enjoy my country’s historical struggles with establishing its own democracy, there’s nothing else to this. You will encounter gratuitous quoting of Büchner in this work.  
> Also, it's not beta-read. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Les Mis, and I do not own the atrocious amount of Büchner quotes in here. You will find a list of them with the source at the end of each chapter.

_December 1847_

There was never a doubt that a group of young, bright men, growing up at a time like this and under the given circumstances, wouldn’t strive to do anything less than change the world. This didn’t say anything about how successful they would be yet.

In those times, there were forces pushing and pulling at their country, tossing it around on Europe’s playground, anchored nowhere and least in itself. Napoleon had come and gone, and Vienna had thwarted what had promised to be a new beginning, a changing of fortunes for the people. Europe grew colder yet again, and so did Germany.

 

There were three boys sitting in a café one night in that winter of 1847, warming their numb hands on the dying embers of the fire. Three boys, talking in hushed voices.

Talking about revolution.

“We have been quiet for far too long,” said Enjolras, holding his voice just above a whisper. His friends all knew that he disdained keeping his voice down – his words were made to be shared, carefully crafted magic of a siren in their ability to convince – but Karlsbad had made life harder for those with a mind of their own.

Thoughts were very much not asked to be shared.

Those boys shared them anyway.

“Enjolras, we have to be reasonable,” countered Combeferre, the light of the fire giving his face an even more scholarly look, “There is nothing noble about risking jail for plans only half finished. You are too eager.”

Enjolras snorted. “And you are too timid, my friend. The people have tasted freedom, now show them a way and let them reclaim it!”

“We will see what Wilhelm has to say to that,” Courfeyrac muttered with half a smile, far too bitter to fit his usual cheery self. With the image of a Prussian uniform and the taste of stale, perpetuated military traditions in mind, it was even hard for Courfeyrac to smile.

Combeferre frowned. “What little we have known of that freedom is lost. The farmers still live in conditions close to slavery, and many of them have never even felt the repercussions of Napoleons reforms. We’ll need to get them on our side.”

“Then let us do that!” The heat of the fire had flushed Enjolras’ cheeks. “Peace to the shackles! War on the palaces! We have a task at hand, my friends! Since 1832 we have been forced to grow ever quieter, but our aim has never changed. We demand a nation, and a nation free of the restrictions of Karlsbad. We owe our brothers of 1832 the unity and freedom of this country. Hambach was the beginning, but tomorrow will see us rising to claim the power for the people.”

“You know, they thwarted a revolution in Paris in 1832.”

The three boys turned around with shock on their faces at the new voice entering the conversation – new, but not unfamiliar.

“Grantaire.”

It was Enjolras who spoke as soon as he laid eyes on the man sitting at a table in a corner, granting him a scowl and a fierce glance. The fire grew ever colder.

“What?” Grantaire seemed perpetually amused, and one might have been inclined to say that it was because the alternative was something close to crying. “Have you not expected to find me here?”

He raised his drink – an entire bottle of wine, it had to be a special day for him – in the direction of those he considered his friends, even though they probably would not grant him the same honour in his eyes. Courfeyrac, the only one of the three holding a drink in his hand, toasted back with a slight smile.

Enjolras continued scowling. “I thought you had decided to avoid our company as far as possible, seeing you don’t agree with our notions. You would rather see the complete restoration of the Holy Roman Empire than any step in the direction of a free Germany.”

There was something about the way Grantaire smiled, something twisted and self-destructive and cold, hidden carefully under layers of good-natured and drunken cheer. “Oh, but I do so enjoy your company!” he called, “Pray, tell me more of our brothers of 1832!”

He got up, balancing himself out comically and striding over to the group huddled by the fire with large steps. Leaning towards Courfeyrac, he stage-whispered. “I heard yesterday’s revolutionaries are today’s tyrants. The students of Hambach have long since grown up.”

Enjolras, who had just opened his mouth to speak, closed it again, his forehead creasing. Grantaire smiled at him cheerily. “You were saying?”

“I have heard about the Paris uprisings,” Enjolras conceded, “But your example is a rather poor one, if I may say so. Throughout Europe, others have begun to reclaim their freedom. Why should we not?”

If Feuilly were here, he would start waxing about Poland this very moment, but he was out trying to feed the poor or something equally selfless. The riots from the beginning of this year had left them all questioning a lot – and for Feuilly, the question had been how people with less than him at their disposal would get by.

For Enjolras, it had been the question of how he could best overthrow what Metternich had restored of the old order to lead his country to its long-desired unity. “Even you, Grantaire, must admit that the people are ready to show the emperor what we’re made of.”

Grantaire detached himself from Courfeyrac to lean into Enjolras’ personal space. “I, for my part, am made of alcohol and far too little illusions. But, alas, you would not understand, for you, my friend, were carved from marble.”

“You are drunk,” Enjolras stated disapprovingly.

“And you are doomed,” countered Grantaire and heaved himself upright again. “My honourable Lord, I will most humbly take my leave of you.”

Enjolras turned back to the fire without a second glance.

There were leftovers from pamphlets and papers in the fire where they had been used to get it going. Mainz, place of business for the commission looking into undesirable writers and the like, was never cold in those days. 

**Author's Note:**

> Napoleon: invaded Germany (and also a lot of Europe, you know), made a lot of changes to the system there, also sort of made the Industrial Revolution there possible  
> Congress of Vienna: basically wanted to achieve peace in Europe after the French Revolution and Napoleon but made a lot of people angry by aiming to restore pre-revolutionary standards  
> Karlsbad: city where a bunch of German ministers and/or other officials met to pass a bill that censored pretty much everything  
> Friedrich Wilhelm IV: king of Prussia from 1840 to 1861  
> 1832: reference to a student protest in Hambach that demanded the unity of Germany and the like, also reference to the June Rebellion (Paris)  
> Holy Roman Empire: basically what Germany was before it became the German Confederation after Napoleon and Vienna  
> Metternich: one of the main guys behind the restoration throughout Europe
> 
> “Peace to the shackles! War on the palaces!”  
> (Georg Büchner, Der Hessische Landbote)  
> “My honourable Lord, I will most humbly take my leave of you.”  
> (Shakespeare, Hamlet)  
> The title of the series is a reference to 'Dantons Tod' by Georg Büchner. 
> 
> Feel free to point out historical inaccuracies, I did the best I could. (Or maybe not, as I recall, I spent most of my history class discussing communism with the reincarnation of Karl Marx.)


End file.
